DOEN Foundation

Amsterdam, Netherlands

The mission of the DOEN Foundation is to work to create a sustainable world in which we all can share. The Foundation sponsors more than 200 cultural and social pioneers, people and companies each year.

Financed by the receipts of the Dutch Postcode Lottery, the BankGiro Lottery and the Friends Lottery, DOEN provides assistance to initiatives large and small, through subsidies, investments, loans and sureties for a maximum of three years. The Foundation is active in four areas in particular: sustainable development, New Economy, social cohesion and culture. For DOEN, art and culture are vitally important to social change. With their pictures and their narratives, artists and cultural operators offer an alternative to the existing realities, opening up vistas for new images and ideas. Accordingly, one area focus for the Culture Programme of the DOEN Foundation is the promotion of initiatives in the regions of Africa in which the cultural sector is not as developed. DOEN is currently involved in initiatives in Uganda, Kenya, Mali, Senegal and Northern Africa. The overall budget for the DOEN International Culture Programme in 2013 is approx. EUR 3 million. These funds will also go towards financing several international networks and funds that make a direct contribution to the sustainability of the cultural sector in Africa. These include not only two worldwide programmes such as Arts Collaboratory and Social Design but also networks such as The Arterial, African Synergy, Art Moves Africa and the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture.